Kotori awoke in a bed painfully. Her body felt heavy and it reminded her of the time when she'd awoke in heaven after her death

[Am I dead again?] She thought

She quickly dismissed the thought since it was so unlikely. She would've instantly reincarnated as a bug if she had died.

She tried to move and felt a stabbing pain in her arm. She saw her arm was bandaged up. There was a bit of blood on the cloth but otherwise, it was clean.

Looking around further she found herself in an unfamiliar place.

She was pretty sure she was still in the elf village since the architecture looked similar but this was not her bed in Amelie's house.

She tried to move out of her bed, but her body didn't want to budge and she was unable to move.

She tried to speak but her throat could only croak a soft sound.

There was a pile of dirt on her. Upon hearing her attempt to speak, the dirt immediately shaped itself into the size of a dog and gave a bark.

[What is this?] She thought the dirt dog reminded her of Shu but in her mind Shu was only the size of a rat.

she heard footsteps then the door to her room swung open in the doorway she saw a very tired-looking Amelie.

"Oh Kotori you're awake!" Amelie said cheerfully

Kotori looked in surprise.

"The… lizard…" she said then tried to move

"Shhhh… It's okay you killed it" Amelie said

This surprised Kotori even further. She remembered hitting the lizard and bringing it down to 1% but was sure she didn't kill it with her last blow.

Suddenly a thought popped into her mind

[Wait! What did Shu do!]

She remembered seeing Shu launch a bullet of stone towards the lizard.

"S...Shu" she said softly

"Ah him, He wouldn't leave your side. He's here" Amelie said.

Amelie gestured to the dog who had initially alerted Amelie of Kotori's awakening

[This is Shu?] She thought incredulously

It seemed impossible but she quickly did a status check

Dirt Spirit (Shu)

Race: [Spirit] Age: 2

HP: 15 (+10)

Mana: 10 (+8)!

Agility: 7 (+6)!

Strength: 5 (+4)!

Defense: 5 (+4)!

Karma: 10

Skills: [Rock Bullet](New!)

Traits: [Earth Spirit] (Evolved!)

 

The spirit was indeed Shu, and his stats had grown massively!

[Is this what it means to evolve?] Kotori thought

The status of Shu's had grown. Enough to be on par with a human. Shu had even learned a new skill [Rock Bullet] which seemed to be how Shu killed the original lizard in the first place.

[That bastard kill stole me] Kotori thought in bemused frustration. She was grateful for Shu saving her, but she wanted to have the same sort of growth herself.

Still, Kotori herself was unsure of what had happened when she passed out. Once again and the game announcer's voice had told her she had gained new skills. Now, she had both a skill and a trait she was unsure of what the difference between them was. Her [Magic Musician] was self-explanatory since it let her cast spells through playing her flute.

"Status," she said to herself

Sato Kotori

Race: [Human] Age: 6

HP: 21 (+6!)

Mana: 20 (+10!)

Agility: 13 (+2!)

Strength: 10 (+1!)

Defense: 7(+2!)

Karma: -100,009,647 (+21!)

Skills: [Magic Musician], [Hunter], [Status] [Desire of Monte Cristo](Removed)

Traits: [Spirit Seer], [Monte Cristo]

[I didn't grow that much.] Kotori thought

The hunter skill was something that Kotori didn’t know much about. It seemed like it was another version of the [Adventurer] skill that the people in the village had. To her knowledge, it was a skill that would increase the stats of the user every time they killed a monster.

"How long was I out?" Kotori asked

"About three days," Amelie said

Kotori was shocked she only felt like she slept for a few hours at most. But that would explain why she had felt so groggy. She must've heavily overused her mana in this instance.

[I must be more careful about my mana usage. If I keep going further, it could kill me.] She chided herself

Each time she had over-exerted herself she kept blacking out for longer and longer. She had already had 3 mana blackouts in the span of a year.

Kotori resolved herself to avoid overexerting herself mana-wise.

"Do you need anything?" Amelie asked her concerningly

"Water" Kotori croaked. Her throat felt like sandpaper and she was barely able to speak at all.

"Right away!"

Amelie scampered off like a rabbit. The scene reminded Kotori of her movement when she was running from the lizard.

When Amelie came back, she was followed by a large tan woman. Kotori instantly recognized her as Mari

"Howdy welp!" Mari said with a scowl on her face

"Hello…" Kotori said as she shied away hiding under her blanket.

"Who said you had to kill the lizard?" Mari said.

Kotori stayed silent. Mari was right; Indeed, nobody had told Kotori she needed to kill the lizard creature.

[Why did I want to kill it in the first place?] Kotori wondered

At the moment, it felt like the right thing to do. She was unsure of what caused her to act to irrationally.

"We told you to "survive" not "kill" but your dumb brain thought it would be a good idea!"

Mari berated her

"When the Boss heard you nearly died, she almost killed me!" Mari said exasperated 

Kotori remained silent. Everything Mari said was true and she had no excuse. She should've stayed in the alcove with Amelie but decided to kill the lizard instead and took a needless risk.

Mari's face softened

"Anyway, now that's out of the way. Good job little bird" Mari said

Kotori was surprised. Just one second ago she was being scolded. Now she was being praised

"Oh don't look surprised. Even if you did something stupid killing a beast like that is impressive, especially at your age" Mari said.

"mmm," Kotori said it was the only word she could say. Her throat was still extremely dry.

Amelie brought a cup to Kotori's mouth. She drank it and her throat felt a little better

"Thank.. You…" She said

"Hmm! Don't mention it," Mari said then strutted off "Training starts again once you can stand again!" She ordered right before she left

[Ever the drill sergeant, not even giving me much of a break for getting hurt] Kotori thought smiling

She slowly lied back in bed and drifted off to sleep.